Wow... has it really been 3 months since I last posted? Not that anyone is reading this... but wow. I can't believe it... I didn't post about the Valentines day drama... or Easter... or store visit... or the loss of an assistant... I came up with a new title for this blog. No longer shall it be I Work in Retail... I christen thee Dollar Tree Must Mean Drama in Another Language. Well, where should I start. I guess we'll start with... so many topics are racing through my head... I guess we'll start with today and go back... or forward... Behaviors tends to repeat themselves quite often at my store.
Whenever I am the only manager on duty... it seems like everything goes to shit. I don't know if that says something about my management style... or if everything really just goes to shit... Usually by Thursday I am tired and don't feel like working but I push thru it for the sake of my store. My dill hole of a boss leaves me a list of crap that would take 10 hours. I knew that the storefront did not scream mothers day... I knew this when my boss had a cashier making graduation bouquets instead of mothers day ones... So our regional training manager comes in and is... what is our next holiday? then y does your storefront scream summer... if I wanted to be a smart ass I could of said Cinco De Mayo is next... but I choose my battles. So not I have the task of changing the store front to mothers day, on top of the other tasks. Meanwhile, the frozen truck that should of been there at 8 doesnt show up until 1230, so i have to come up with work for my stocker to do while we wait for the truck. And then my midshift cashier comes in... why she was hired.. I don't know. On her to do list is make balloon bouquets for mothers day. There is a picture of what the balloon bouquest should look like on the helium tank. Do u know I had to explain to here step by step what to do. And she is slow as molasses. I hate when I get stuck with the slow cashiers. I want to suggest a cashier training session... because our cashiers are lazy... and if I train them... then I know what they know. And if they continue to suck... Grounds for termination. But I forget what I was even commenting on... Was I commenting on something? So anyways... between doing everything I had to do... I didnt clock out until 415. As I am getting ready to leave Walking Contradiction calls me. She wants to pull me out of my store to train another store on the freezers next week... flippin awesome. I dont even do frozen like that... but whatever. So now I have to see if Jason can come in earlier next thursday so i can go to another store. I mean... the only training I got was read this manual... here is the planogram... good luck... I really need to get out of this place... but then what stories would i have for u guys? Well I guess I'll call it a night. More to come tomorrow... I think I'll discuss my bosses laziness...
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Walking Contradiction Part 2
So there are other things that bother me about my DM. This concerns gossip. So since being in her district... I have gotten into trouble several times for gossip. The thing is... I'm not gossiping. I am having conversations with other managers about events that happen in the company we all work for. I am not spreading rumors. So my DM expects me to not talk to any people outside of my store... even though I've been in 6 stores since I started 2 years ago. That is so not right... and I am pretty sure illegal.
Anyways, there is a MIT at our store this week to help us prepare for the freezers... woo frickin hoo. So my DM asks if she heard about the drama in the other district. And if she heard it from another manager. Which she said she hadn't. But the MIT relayed that she had talked to the other manager about it. And nothing. My DM said nothing. No... smart ass comments... like... you shouldn't talk to him about that. Nothing.
And not to mention... My DM spreads just as much gossip... only she says... this stays between you and me when she tells you something. So I am officially nicknaming her Walking Contradiction (or WC for short).
And you can't trust her as far as you can throw her... but that is a whole different post.
Anyways, there is a MIT at our store this week to help us prepare for the freezers... woo frickin hoo. So my DM asks if she heard about the drama in the other district. And if she heard it from another manager. Which she said she hadn't. But the MIT relayed that she had talked to the other manager about it. And nothing. My DM said nothing. No... smart ass comments... like... you shouldn't talk to him about that. Nothing.
And not to mention... My DM spreads just as much gossip... only she says... this stays between you and me when she tells you something. So I am officially nicknaming her Walking Contradiction (or WC for short).
And you can't trust her as far as you can throw her... but that is a whole different post.
Walking Contradiction
Today I would like to comment on the insanity that is my DM. She drives me up the flippin wall. Just thinking about her puts me on edge. There has been some drama in another district, so she feels she is going to lose her job... if only we could make that a possibility... Let me illuminate on some of her antics.
She tells us to empty out the back room. To get out everything we have. So in this spirit, I took out a few shelves in the shampoo section to expand on hair goods. We don't receive enough shampoo to fill the shelves. I did this like 3 months ago. Yesterday she is like why did you take out the shelves... you never take out shelves. She was like where are u going to put all that shampoo from the back (there was like 15 cases)? I brought it all to the floor... and didn't have to add shelves.
So then her boss's boss's boss... I guess he is like the president or whatever... is apparently in town. So my DM goes into panic mode. She is like hurry up and finish the boxes so you are only taking up one side of the aisle. I had frickin one box left. And then she is like why is your ladder our. That can't be there. I was like... I am emptying this box for a customer... After that I went back to what I was doing... where I needed my ladder... I am only 5'4. So thien she was like... you know what happened the last time you had a bad walk. I wanted to be like... what's the most you can do? Demote me to a cashier? I welcome that... then I won't have to deal with your ass. She drives me up the wall.
She tells us to empty out the back room. To get out everything we have. So in this spirit, I took out a few shelves in the shampoo section to expand on hair goods. We don't receive enough shampoo to fill the shelves. I did this like 3 months ago. Yesterday she is like why did you take out the shelves... you never take out shelves. She was like where are u going to put all that shampoo from the back (there was like 15 cases)? I brought it all to the floor... and didn't have to add shelves.
So then her boss's boss's boss... I guess he is like the president or whatever... is apparently in town. So my DM goes into panic mode. She is like hurry up and finish the boxes so you are only taking up one side of the aisle. I had frickin one box left. And then she is like why is your ladder our. That can't be there. I was like... I am emptying this box for a customer... After that I went back to what I was doing... where I needed my ladder... I am only 5'4. So thien she was like... you know what happened the last time you had a bad walk. I wanted to be like... what's the most you can do? Demote me to a cashier? I welcome that... then I won't have to deal with your ass. She drives me up the wall.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Balloons
Everyone loves a party. And what party is complete without balloons.
I hate balloons. They are the bane of my existence. Well really I have nothing against balloons... its the people buying them.
Fist off... it is company policy that we do not inflate latex balloons. We never have... we probably never will. And if we did inflate them... you would still pay $1 for 1 balloon. Why? Because when you get a balloon, you are paying for the helium more than the balloon. So if you buy that pack of 25 latex balloons, and you want them inflated, it would cost you $1 a balloon.
Second... we are a frickin dollar store. We can't have 105 different options for balloons. No we don't have Happy 1st birthday, Happy 50th Anniversary, Happy 27th Birthday... We have 1 get well balloon, 1 congrats balloon, 1 wedding balloon. We have a general selection of birthday balloons. Only a few novelty balloons. And we only have them when the warehouse gets them in. So get over the fact that you want 15 different birthday ballons and we only have 3. If you want more... frickin pay 4 dollars at a party store.
What also annoys me is that people want "fresh" balloons. We inflate several balloons every day so that our cashiers and managers don't have to keep running over to the balloon station. Because if you haven't figured out from the long lines sometimes... we can't afford to have someone just stand over in the balloon center and wait on you hand and foot. So they want fresh balloons because in their minds those balloons will last longer. I call BS on you. Even when we tell them the other balloons were just inflated that morning... we get " I need a new balloon... the party is tomorrow." That balloon will last for 10 days whether I blow it up now or this morning.
I also hate when customers get the cashier to call the manager for help with the balloons. If it is me... they are going to wait a good 3 - 5 minutes because I am going to finish whatever it is that I am doing (gotta stock that 784 cases a day). And by time I get over there, they still have no idea what balloons they want. Or they pick one, and while I am blowing it up, they pick another one, and then another one, or better yet they change there mind. Once again... we are a dollar store... we have like 5 options... what makes the decision sooooo hard?
I hate balloons. They are the bane of my existence. Well really I have nothing against balloons... its the people buying them.
Fist off... it is company policy that we do not inflate latex balloons. We never have... we probably never will. And if we did inflate them... you would still pay $1 for 1 balloon. Why? Because when you get a balloon, you are paying for the helium more than the balloon. So if you buy that pack of 25 latex balloons, and you want them inflated, it would cost you $1 a balloon.
Second... we are a frickin dollar store. We can't have 105 different options for balloons. No we don't have Happy 1st birthday, Happy 50th Anniversary, Happy 27th Birthday... We have 1 get well balloon, 1 congrats balloon, 1 wedding balloon. We have a general selection of birthday balloons. Only a few novelty balloons. And we only have them when the warehouse gets them in. So get over the fact that you want 15 different birthday ballons and we only have 3. If you want more... frickin pay 4 dollars at a party store.
What also annoys me is that people want "fresh" balloons. We inflate several balloons every day so that our cashiers and managers don't have to keep running over to the balloon station. Because if you haven't figured out from the long lines sometimes... we can't afford to have someone just stand over in the balloon center and wait on you hand and foot. So they want fresh balloons because in their minds those balloons will last longer. I call BS on you. Even when we tell them the other balloons were just inflated that morning... we get " I need a new balloon... the party is tomorrow." That balloon will last for 10 days whether I blow it up now or this morning.
I also hate when customers get the cashier to call the manager for help with the balloons. If it is me... they are going to wait a good 3 - 5 minutes because I am going to finish whatever it is that I am doing (gotta stock that 784 cases a day). And by time I get over there, they still have no idea what balloons they want. Or they pick one, and while I am blowing it up, they pick another one, and then another one, or better yet they change there mind. Once again... we are a dollar store... we have like 5 options... what makes the decision sooooo hard?
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Don't pick that up...
I didn't realize that it was part of my job description to follow around the kids in the store and referee what they pick up. Some of the kids that shop at my dollar tree give me the chills. And they are ballsy. The other day, I was building our cold and cough end cap. I had my box cutter sitting right next to me on a pile of boxes. There are really only so many places you can stash a box cutter when on the floor stocking 375 cases an hour. So, while I am standing there (his mom too btw) this kid persists to pick up my box cutter and try to open it. Now my box cutter isn't all new and shiny looking either. It is bright orange and blue with tape residue on it. The saving grace is that it is a home depot box cutter and retracts itself automatically. This is not the first time, nor the oddest thing a kid has picked up in front of me. I think the oddest would have to be a step ladder. The ladder wasn't in anyones way, especially not his mothers. I come from the back room and I see him picking up the ladder... while it's open...and try to walk somewhere with it. After the initial shock of seeing this. I had to ask the kid if he needed help getting something, to which he responded no, put the ladder down, and went on his merry way. Why do parent's think dollar tree is a frickin playground? And then when their precious angel breaks something or gets hurt... it's our fault? Word to the wise... if your child can't keep his hands to himself and behave in public... maybe you should keep him home... makes a more pleasant shopping experience for all parties involved...
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Customers that make you go hmmm...
Dollar tree with jason
kent floro | MySpace Video
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=3406841
So I found this video on myspace. I am willing to bet you money... after filming this little ditty... they took the product off and just left it somewhere in the aisle. I can bet you money that they did not buy it. I can just bet you money. Actually after watching it again... you see them just throw the stuff in a bin... Customers...
Payroll
So today's topic is payroll. My DM decides she is going to start writing up store managers who over spend on payroll. So we are running 33 hours over. Corporate gave us 10 hours... so we are running over 23 hours. My store is on my DM's s**t list... so my SM is like... we have to cut hours. We ended up cutting cashiers tomorrow and Saturday. We also cut stocking hours. Next week we were originally scheduled 15 hours over... and now we are only 3 hours over.
Now I understand this whole... we can't spend payroll willy nilly... but come on. They are not supplying us the hours to successfully run the store. Now for the next two days I have to stock while running the register and providing customer service. Do you know how difficult it is to stock 175 cases an hour and run a register? The minute you get through your line and back to the aisle... here comes another customer. All I have to say... I don't want to hear my DM complaining that the truck isn't processed.
Now I understand this whole... we can't spend payroll willy nilly... but come on. They are not supplying us the hours to successfully run the store. Now for the next two days I have to stock while running the register and providing customer service. Do you know how difficult it is to stock 175 cases an hour and run a register? The minute you get through your line and back to the aisle... here comes another customer. All I have to say... I don't want to hear my DM complaining that the truck isn't processed.
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